After some service in the Royal Navy, Fox entered the Grenadiers, and was known in later life as a collector of Greek coins. His collection was bought for the royal museum of Berlin when he died in 1873. He married in St. George’s, Hanover Square, London, on 19 June 1824 Lady Mary FitzClarence, a daughter of William IV by his mistress Dorothea Jordan. The couple had no issue.

Fox was a politician. He represented the Whig interest and sat for Calne 1831-32, then Tavistock 1832-35. He briefly represented Stroud in 1835, but resigned that seat so Lord John Russell could contest it. He was elected as a Member of Parliament for the east London constituency of Tower Hamlets in 1841 and served until 1847.

Fox was Surveyor-General of the Ordnance in 1841 and 1846-52. He was promoted Major-General on 9 November 1846, Lieutenant-General on 20 June 1854, and General on 6 March 1863.

Regency Personalities SeriesIn my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables. The list of Previous Notables and Upcoming Entries has grown so long that I will post this once a week on Saturdays now.

Not only do I write Regency and Romance, but I also have delved into Fantasy.

The Trolling series, (the first three are in print) is the story of a man, Humphrey. We meet him as he has left youth and become a man with a man’s responsibilities. We follow him in a series of stories that encompass the stages of life.

We see him when he starts his family, when he has older sons and the father son dynamic is tested. We see him when his children begin to marry and have children, and at the end of his life when those he has loved, and those who were his friends proceed him over the threshold into death.

All this while he serves a kingdom troubled by monsters. Troubles that he and his friends will learn to deal with and rectify. It is now available in a variety of formats.

For $2.99 you can get this 2nd book in the fantasy adventure series of Humphrey and Gwendolyn.

When the neighboring kingdom of Mah Wee begins to experience the same problems that beset Torahn some years before, they urgently request the aid of the experts in containing a new Troll infestation. But eradicating Trolls is not as easy as exterminating a few rats or mice.

Trolls are bigger than men, they are stronger than men, and then are meaner than men. Humphrey Cutter and his band of mismatched warriors must once again rise to the occasion, but can they without the aid of expertise of Gwendolyn and her particular skills?

Mah Wee, an ancient kingdom, with a monarch more steeped in the rights of being a king rather than the obligations and duties that a king should be. Here Humphrey and his crew finds that they have more than Trolls to overcome if they are to save Mah Wee from the same or nearly similar problems that they faced before in Torahn.

But, as Humphrey knows, nothing can truly be accomplished if the lovely Gwendolyn is not able to lend her aid as well.

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Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

James Innes-Ker 5th Duke of Roxburghe
10 January 1736 – 19 July 1823

James Innes-Ker

James Innes-Ker 5th Duke of Roxburghe was the eldest surviving son of Sir Henry Innes, 5th Baronet (c. 1711–1762), and Anne Drummonda Grant (1711–1771). He succeeded to the Baronetcy on his father’s death. Through the Innes family, he was a descendant of Robert Ker, 1st Earl of Roxburghe, and in 1812 established his claim to the vacant Dukedom of Roxburghe.

The fight for the succession of the title encompassed seven years of constant litigation; according to one biography, “seldom have the lawyers met with a richer harvest. The courts of Edinburgh and London have revelled in conflicting claims, and the House of Lords has been disturbed by never-ending appeals.” On the demise of the 3rd Duke, who had never married, his principal titles, and large and productive estates, devolved on William, 7th Lord Bellenden, who died shortly thereafter, without heirs. The succession was contested by Major-General Walter Ker and the Right Honorable William Drummond; and only at vast cost decided, on 11 May 1812, in favour of Sir James, as descended from Lady Innes, the third daughter of Hary, Lord Ker, son of the first Earl of Roxburghe.

Lord Bellenden was descended from the second Duke; General Ker claimed to be heir male of the first, and Mr. Drummond heir male of the second Earl, so that the issue turned on the construction of an entail, which gave the right to the female line. Other claimants included John Bellenden Ker (c. 1765–1842), famous as a wit and botanist and the author of Archaeology of Popular Phrases and Nursery Rhymes (1837), whose son was the legal reformer Charles Henry Bellenden Ker (c. 1785–1871). It is notable that 25 years later, Walter Ker’s daughter Essex Ker was involved in litigation against her father’s lawyers in connection with bonds issued to cover the costs of the succession litigation.

James took the name Innes-Ker, and became the 5th Duke of Roxburghe. He married twice, first to Mary Wray in 1769, who died in 1807. That same year he married Harriet Charlewood. He had one son by this second marriage, James, (who was born when the Duke was 80) who succeeded to the Dukedom on his death.

Portraits of the Duke and his second Duchess were painted by Henry Raeburn, and hang in the entrance hall of the family seat of Floors Castle in the Scottish Borders.

Not only do I write Regency and Romance, but this can take a humorous turn. Some years back, I am sure readers of this blog will be aware that some writers began to take great liberty with Jane Austen and her works. Pride and Prejudice being liberally rewritten with the inclusion of zombies.

Then other books appeared with sea monsters, and werewolves and vampires. President Lincoln has even made it to the big screen where he is intent on sending foul creatures to hell. It occurred to me, even before I read any of this literature, that Jane would probably not appreciate what had been done to her classic piece.

That the tales and her life have become visual spectacles that we enjoy she might not like either, but is perhaps resigned to. That zombies, ghosts and vampires are now used to follow her own plot lines would I think, have her turning over in her grave. Jane Austen and Ghosts is my take on that.

It is now available in a variety of formats. For a limited time it has been reduced to $2.99 for your eReaders and $8.99 for paperback you can get this Jane Austen adventure.

In the world of moviemaking, nothing is as golden as rebooting a classic tale that has made fortunes every time before when it has been adapted for the silver screen.

Certainly any work by Jane Austen made into a movie will not only be bankable, but also considered a work of art. That is of course until the current wave of adaptations that unite her classic stories with all the elements of the afterlife is attempted to be created.

That these have found success in the marketplace amongst booklovers may not be quite understood by those who make movies. But that they are a success is understood and a reason to make them into movies.

All that being said, perhaps it would also be fair to say that the very proper Jane, were she present to have anything to say about it, would not be pleased. Of course she has been away from this Earth for nearly 200 hundred years.

But does that mean were she upset enough, she wouldn’t come back?

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Thomas de Grey 2nd Earl de Grey known as The Lord Grantham (DWW-for reals, not the fictitious lord of the Downton Abbey) from 1786 to 1833 was the eldest son of Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham and his wife, Mary, a daughter of the Jemima Yorke, 2nd Marchioness Grey and younger sister of the Amabel Hume-Campbell, 1st Countess de Grey. Prime Minister Lord Goderichwas his younger brother. He succeeded his father as third baron in 1786, and became the sixth baronet Robinson of Newby in 1792. In 1833 he succeeded his aunt as second Earl de Grey according to a special remainder and also inherited the Wrest Park estate in Silsoe, Bedfordshire. In 1798 he was admitted to St John’s College, Cambridge, graduating MA in 1801. He became second Earl de Grey and Baron Lucas of Crudwell in 1833.

He was made Privy Counsellor in December 1834 while holding office as first Lord of the Admiralty till April 1835, and a Knight of the Garter in 1844. He was colonel-commandant of the Yorkshire Hussar Regiment of Cavalry for over forty years and was appointed yeomanry aide-de-camp to William IV and held similar position under Queen Victoria. Thomas de Grey was nominated as Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire in 1818, an office which he held until his death. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from September 1841 to July 1844. During his time in Ireland he disagreed with Peel’s religious conciliation of Ireland, claiming that economic conciliation was a greater priority. He called for more legislation focused on Ireland whilst Peel pursued economic legislation aimed at benefitting the UK as a whole.

On the founding of the Institute of British Architects in London in 1834 he was invited to become its first president remaining so till his death in 1859. The institute received its Royal Charter in 1837 becoming Royal Institute of British Architects in London. Earl de Grey was also a fellow of the Royal Society, a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and served as one of the New Buckingham Palace Commissioners from 1848. Besides remodelling his London home at No.4 St James’s Square (now the Naval & Military Club) he designed the new Wrest House inspired by French architecture at his Wrest Park estate in Bedfordshire between February 1833 and October 1839, assisted by James Clephan, and maintained the Park adding a number of decorations and statues.

Lord de Grey married Lady Henrietta, daughter of William Cole, 1st Earl of Enniskillen, in 1805. They had two daughters – Ann Florence and Mary Gertrude. His wife Henrietta died in 1848. Lord de Grey survived her by eleven years and died in November 1859, aged 77.

He was succeeded in the barony of Lucas of Crudwell by his daughter, Ann, who married the 6th Earl of Cowper, as well as Baroness Lucas in her own right.

His other titles passed to his nephew, George Robinson, 2nd Earl of Ripon.

Not only do I write Regency and Romance, but I also have delved into Fantasy.

The Trolling series, (the first three are in print) is the story of a man, Humphrey. We meet him as he has left youth and become a man with a man’s responsibilities. We follow him in a series of stories that encompass the stages of life.

We see him when he starts his family, when he has older sons and the father son dynamic is tested. We see him when his children begin to marry and have children, and at the end of his life when those he has loved, and those who were his friends proceed him over the threshold into death.

All this while he serves a kingdom troubled by monsters. Troubles that he and his friends will learn to deal with and rectify.

It is now available in a variety of formats. For $.99 you can get this fantasy adventure.